Covering Business

   When people think of business articles, they may think of a stock item, much like those done by CBS MarketWatch. If you're interested in writing a stock article, you would probably want to write on a local or state company such as Bentonville-based Wal-Mart (NYSE: Symbol, WMT). Try the following example:

  1. Call up Yahoo Finance and enter "WMT" as the stock to be listed.

  2. Yahoo should provide a general listing of the stock, with its current price and other stock details (trading volume, earnings, price-earnings ration, etc.) Click on the choice "Profile."

  3. The displayed information includes a description of the company's activities, officers, and general and financial information. Print this for future reference.

  4. Determine, in Yahoo, the date of the company's next quarterly or annual report. When the next financial report is provided, write a short story including the following:
    • Gross Sales
    • Gross Income
    • Higher (or lower) sales and income figures for comparable periods
    • Per share information for current an comparable previous period (quarterly or annually)
    • Comments by company officers, if appropriate
  5. The story should be complete, concise and accurate.
   A basic business story simply reports the quarterly (3 months) or annual (12 months) activities of a company. The basic items are the same:
  1. Sales
  2. Earnings
  3. Earnings per share
   You can write a similar story about your own lemonade stand business. Let's set it up.
  1. Ten members of the class put up $5 each to finance the new business. Each person receives five shares at $1 each. Their capital is $50 and there are 50 shares outstanding. The business makes and sells lemonade outside room 112 in Sorrells Hall.

  2. The business needs materials and supplies: $30 is spent on lemonade, sugar, cups and signs ("Lemonade, 50˘ a cup.").

  3. The company name is "Morrow's Magnificent Lemonade"

  4. Each day, 100 cups of lemonade are sold at 50˘, for gross sales of $50.

  5. Take the gross ($50) minus materials and supplies ($30) to find earnings of $20 ($50 - $30 = $20)

  6. Since there are 50 shares outstanding, earnings are $.40 per share ($20/50 = $.40.) After one day, the lead of the story would look like this.

       Morrow's Magnificent Lemonade Co. reported record sales, earnings and per share earnings for the one-day period ending today.

       Sales were $50, earnings were $20 and earnings per share were $.40.
   No matter how many days or weeks the business runs, the method of computing those figures is constant. Suppose the business has the same daily sales and earnings for three months (20 days each month) or 60 days. The first quarter report would look like this.
   Morrow's Magnificent Lemonade Co. reported quarterly sales of $3,000 today for the period ending Sept. 30. Earnings reached $1,200, or $6 a share.
   Whether dealing with General Motors, Wal-Mart or Morrow's Magnificent Lemonade, the basic information is the same: sales, earnings and earnings per share.

   In all companies, of course, there may be more items that require reporting. You may expand your story by picking those items that are most important.

   Though some business stories focus on current values and projected earnings, a good business article always contains a good angle. What's yours? You must use your knowledge of news values to plan a good story, e.g. an article examining the effect of gas fluctuations on the tourist industry is timely; a store open only during holidays fits unusualness; a new shopping center or major business moving into the city would contain proximity values; traffic jams affecting business would have currency (an on-going situational update); business closings affect the communities they leave — the loss of jobs can be devastating to the worker's family (conflict).

   Be sure to pay special attention to AP style concerning business text, especially concerning fractions, company and incorporated.

   You might write a story on a new business, minorities in a particular field, government and business co-operation or conflict, product defects, new ideas or products, or national and regional economics, including Drew County's average wage per job. Whatever you write, be sure to keep the reader's interest.
Thanks! Dr. Jerry Morrow contributed to this business material.

If you don't understand something in this Web note, please e-mail Dr. Sitton.
İRonald W. Sitton 2006
Revised 100306 — http://www.uamont.edu/FacultyWeb/sitton/crz/ntro/biz.html